Sword and Shield
by zflowersenpai
Summary: Even if its magic, high school will have its drama. Maybe this will be the push that drives these two together. lerika
1. Denial

**I guess I should do a disclaimer so I don't get sued or something. **

**I don't own Mahouka, all rights belong to their respective owners (duh).**

**Also, this is my first fic, I hope I don't butcher this too much...**

* * *

"PANZEEEER!"

Leo felt the magic sequence activate and the psions flowing into his gauntlet shaped CAD. Feeling his CAD strengthen with his "archaic" voice activated CAD (as Erika put it; to him it was perfectly fine), he decided to charge. Crossing the 6 meter difference between him and his adversary he was promptly knocked off his feet, expelling the air from his lungs.

"HAAAA-UNFFF!"

Normally the sight of Leo charging straight at anyone would cause people to double take and stumble a few steps backwards, but unfortunately for Leo, his adversary was not just a regular person; in the 2 seconds it took Leo to cross the distance between them, Tatsuya analyzed his foes movements, identified openings and deftly jabbed his fist into Leo's solar plexus, knocking Leo back the 6 meters he covered when trying to rush him.

"Go easier would you, Tatsuya," groaned Leo as he pulled himself off the ground of First High's Practice Room #4.

"You should leave less openings on yourself," retorted Tatsuya, "and besides, that hit should have knocked you unconscious".

"You can thank my physical modifications. My grandfather was part of Germany's 'Fortress' series, so I'll be able to take your beatings," Leo chuckled as Tatsuya helped him off the floor. Tatsuya returned the comment with a wry smile.

The beating Leo referred to was Tatsuya's idea. Despite his ample innate strength and endurance, Tatsuya had noted that Leo's form was terrible and left too many openings for a more formidable opponent to exploit. Before the incident at Yokohama, Leo never worried about getting overly injured in a fight, as his fortifying magic would turn most of his attire into a sort of "battle armor", protecting him from most blows and what wasn't covered with magic he would just shrug off due to his genetics.

Of course, that was before Yokohama, almost a year ago now that the Thesis Competition was coming up again. More specifically, Lu Gonghu. That man was a beast; Leo had never before faced someone of that caliber and Tatsuya's observations were right. During the fight, Lu Gonghu blocked Leo's own strike and returned his blow with a roundhouse kick of his own, knocking Leo unconscious and out of commission for the rest of the fight. Good thing Saegusa-senpai handled the situation well. After that, Tatsuya offered to teach Leo some martial arts to augment Leo's offensive capabilities.

"All right, again," Leo grunted as he prepared his stance.

The first session with Tatsuya helped him better his posture; he hadn't realized how many places he had left open even though he had fancied himself impermeable. This time instead of activating his CAD and rushing in, he opted for a safer approach. Keeping his elbows low, he sidestepped Tatsuya's jab only to barely intercept the foot aiming for his head that seemed to come out of nowhere. Ducking down he swung his own lag around hoping to knock Tatsuya off his feet. Even before reaching the apex of the arc, he found his face on the ground and and knee to his back.

"Not bad," Tatsuya commented, "You managed to stay up for about 7 seconds. You've made some improvements."

"HRRMPH!"

"Sorry," Tatsuya apologized, removing his knee.

"Hah. I don't think I'm ever going to get a hit on you aren't I?" Leo sighed after pulling himself into a sitting position. "Two weeks of training like a madman, and still not much to show for it."

Each session consisted of a rigorous exercise routine and merciless close combat training. Tatsuya had taken the liberty of going all out against Leo and exposing all his flaws and missteps. If it was anyone other than Leo, he would have had to take it down a couple dozen notches.

"I should hope not. I've been doing this since I was 7," was Tatsuya's stoic reply. Eyeing Leo up and down, Tatsuya gauged his friend's physical condition and mental fatigue. "I think we're done for today," Tatsuya finally concluded after seeing that Leo was in no shape to continue sparring. "We've been at it for 2 hours now, and working while you're exhausted is counterproductive."

"Hah, yea I think I'm done for today. You don't look any worse for wear though." Leo glanced over at Tatsuya. Not a drop of sweat. Since the first meeting, he has always been impressed with Tatsuya; top-notch magic engineer, magician and hand-to-hand combatant. There seemed to be no end to Tatsuya's abilities.

After finishing off his bottle of water and catching his breath, Leo decided to pitch his idea to his friend.

"Hey, Tatsuya."

"Hmm?"

"I have a question. It's about a possible magic sequence I have in my head."

"A magic sequence? Does it have something to do with your fighting style?"

"Well, you know that I usually rush into the fight, and it's mostly just smashing things around. It's been proven several times that it's not the most efficient way to fight," Leo replied thinking back to his run in with that USNA agent and especially Lu Gonghu. "I was thinking about the Usaba Kagerou I used at Yokohama and I want to try something similar."

"Oh? Is Erika rubbing off on you?" Tatsuya replied, with a hint of teasing.

"Y-you're getting the wrong idea," Leo fired back hastily. "Her training has its own benefits. It's not like I'm abandoning hand-to-hand fighting altogether. I just want to try something new."

"If that's what you say." The glint in Tatsuya's eyes showed how feeble Leo's argument was. "Anyway, what about this magic sequence?"

"When I used the Usaba Kagerou, it was essentially a really thin piece of cloth that I fortified out into a blade. I was interested if I could replicate that effect without using a tangible material, like using the air instead."

Tatsuya raised his eyebrows. "It's an interesting concept. Creating a weapon out of air; it sounds kinda cheesy but it can be pretty useful, having a weapon anywhere you need it. However, what you're proposing will probably be extremely difficult for you. The Usaba Kagerou you used had engravings on it to help with the expansion, but what you want to do is creating a weapon out of thin air, literally. That means you have to be especially aware of the air you want to use. Fixing the air molecules in a relative position to each other is no easy feat. You're probably going to need some convergence-type magic to increase the density to the air as well."

"Well, it's worth giving it a shot," Leo replied with a grin. "What do I have to lose? I still have the Chiba's Usaba Kagerou, so I can still fall back on it. But if it succeeds, it just means I have another trick up my sleeve right?"

* * *

"HAAHHH!"

Erika's yell was accompanied by several deft swings, resounding thwacks and groans of club members on the ground as shinai met bone.

"Uh, Erika-chan, don't you think you might be going a little too hard on the club members?" voiced Mibu Sayaka, the new president of the Kendo club since Tsukasa Kinoe had undergone treatment after the affair with Blanche. "These guys aren't Chiba students; they're just high schoolers."

"Oh, they'll be fine, Saya," replied Erika. "A couple bruises won't hurt them. And besides, I'm doing them a favor by sparring with them. They'll have better form, and I'll have practice against multiple opponents. It's a win-win situation."

Sayaka could only sigh in exasperation. For the 2 hours they had been in the small gymnasium, Erika had been taking on opponent after opponent, sometimes as many as five at once. Despite not using any move or acceleration-type magic, each bout was finished promptly without anyone of her members managing to land a hit on Erika.

_No doubt that some serious competition might toughen some of these guys up, but at the rate Erika is beating them into the ground, I'm afraid some of them might lose some confidence. I think I'm starting to know how the Kenjutsu club felt going up against Tatsuya-kun. _

"Alright, we're done for today everyone," yelled Sayaka.

Her announcement was met with the sighs of relief from the kendo club. Most were too tired to grab a drink or even pick themselves off the ground. More than a few simply lay there, leaving their shinai lying next to them.

_Correction, this is probably how everyone going up against Tatsuya-kun felt. _Her thoughts went back to his fight against Vice President Hattori, the Crimson Prince, Cardinal George and the assailants during the Yokohama incident. _He's way out of anyone's league._

There was a time when Mibu Sayaka thought that he would be the one, but she knew that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to stand as an equal to him. _Takeaki-kun though. _He was one that she could walk with and grow with. Thinking about him made her blush. She quickly composed herself, hoping no one had noticed. She had no such luck.

"Saya, thinking about Kirihara-san?" Erika teased as she approached Sayaka from the cluster of club member's bodies lying on the ground.

"E-Erika-chan! I'm not sure what you're referring too!"

"Give it up already Saya. I know you're smitten with him. So how's it going with him?" Erika probed teasingly.

"Ah!... Uh!" Sayaka fumbled for an answer, but she organized her thoughts enough that she surmised that to escape further questioning and humiliation, the best way would be to press her own attack.

"T-That's none of your business Erika-chan! And besides, I've heard rumors about you and Saijou-kun. What's up with you two, eh?"

"What! Him! and me? No way!"

Erika's sudden fierce denial made her momentarily forget all about Sayaka and Kirihara. Sayaka couldn't help but notice that Erika's claim didn't quite match up with her body language. The nervous foot-tapping and slight tinge of pink on her cheek made Sayaka think there was more to this situation than met the eye.

"Oh really?" Sayaka pressed, "Why deny the facts? Lots of people already think you two are a thing. And personally, I think that you and him are quite compatible; you're more similar than you think. Besides, you two would be cute together."

Sayaka grinned sinisterly as she watched her poor kouhai squirm under such a devastating assault.

"H-He's not...I mean we aren't...I...GAHHH!"

Erika slouched down besides Sayaka.

"Ok, sure he might not be the 'forever alone' type, but that doesn't mean I have a thing for him, ok?" Erika finally managed to declare huffily.

"Ok, ok, if that's what you say." Sayaka was so caught up in Erika's struggle that she completely forgot why she started teasing her in the first place.

"I'm going to head off," Erika finally announced, "I'm expected to be at home in about 30 minutes." Erika picked herself off the ground and extended a helping hand toward Sayaka. "I'm already late as it is."

"Alright." Sayaka grabbed Erika's outstretched hand. "It's time to close down the gym anyway."

* * *

_How do I feel about him?_

Erika mused to herself as she walked out of First High's small gym.

_He's actually not that bad looking; pretty nonchalant about most things, he has the optimism of an idiot and is so clueless about things sometimes. Actually he's pretty cute when that happens. _

The last thought made Erika stop and shake her head.

_What am I thinking? Me and that lummox are not a thing. _

She continued to walk on.

Despite her internal self-dialogue, she couldn't help but wonder it they really were compatible. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear the other party approach from the direction of the practice rooms.

"You really think you can design an activation sequence like that'll take into account my practical abilities?"

"You should give yourself more credit, Leo. Despite your standing, your practical abilities not bad, and your psion count is greater than average. You should have no problems. I can get a working prototype to you in about a week. I'll need to borrow one of your generalized CADs to test it though."

Mumbling to herself about Leo's pros and cons, Erika didn't notice the approaching party until it was too late.

"He _does_ have pretty eyes. They're a nice shade of gre-"

Erika's ramblings were interrupted when she found herself slamming into a hunk of flesh.

"Hey! Watch where you're-"

Erika glanced up and her eyes widened in surprise.

"L-Leo! Uh..Ah..Ah!" Erika stammered out, caught off guard. "I..uh..GAH!"

With that final exclamation, Erika decided to bail.

Watching Erika run out of gates of First High School, Leo turned to Tatsuya.

"Was it just me, or was Erika not acting like Erika? Normally she would have finished that statement with one insult or another."

Tatsuya gave a slight smile and sighed inwardly. _Really, is he that oblivious? _Tatsuya recanted the thought immediately after remembering what happened to himself that summer.

"No, I think it was just you."

Leo's only response was to gaze quizzically after the retreating figure of Erika.

* * *

**What is this thing called writing. Character development wat. **

**Anyhoo, if you're reading this, it means you managed to get through that hell of a fic. I admire and appreciate you very much.**

**In all seriousness thought, I really like watching the anime and reading the light novels, but in all honesty, it was mediocre at best. But mahouka still has a special place in my heart.**

**The thing about mahouka is that the character development was meh to say the least, so I started writing this to see if I could give the characters some semblance of development. I tried my best, and I'm sorry if I screwed up anything. **

**Also I wanted to write about some supporting characters, so I chose Erika and Leo; I like the ship and my friend and I decided to go with lerika for a ship name. **

**Anyway, we'll see when I can get another chapter up. I guess this is the part where I ask yall to review, follow and favorite?...**

**See yall next time! (hopefully)**


	2. Confrontation

Erika was still feeling off kilter from yesterday's sudden encounter with Leo. Thinking back, she was surprised to remember that she didn't even acknowledge Tatsuya, who was standing right next to Leo.

_Idiot. Why am you getting so flustered over that hunk of muscle? There's absolutely no reason to freak out._

Despite mentally berating herself, there was a part of her that could feel she wasn't convincing herself. _Dammit. Just act normal, would you?_ She forced thoughts of Leo out of her mind. She had class to focus on.

* * *

Leo finally managed to understand why Erika was acting strange the other day. After getting home and lying in his bed staring at the ceiling for half an hour, he finally arrived at that conclusion. _I never thought she might feel the same way…_

Leo continued to muse to himself on the way to school. Unlike Erika, he didn't see the point in denying it. That fiery personality of hers, the bright red hair and cheeky smile just seemed to draw him towards her. He respected the way she would yell back and trade jibes with him. He admired her strength and independence. He always thought that in a relationship, the woman should always make the man aware of what she was feeling. Even if it meant yelling in his face to get the point across.

Leo gave a wry smile. _Who am I kidding? With a personality like hers, I can't imagine anyone in a relationship with her, not to even mention me. She'll have to get over that pride of hers, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. _

Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he passed through the gates of First High. Right now he had more important things to deal with than the possibility of a relationship with Erika, namely practical skills evaluation. Leo sighed. Today was going to to be long enough without having to worry about her.

* * *

With the changes that happened at the beginning of their second year of high school, daily life was a bit different for everyone, mostly for the five of them that were Course 2 students. Tatsuya, Erika, Mizuki, Leo and Mikihiko had all been in class 1-E, but with the introduction of the new Magic Engineering class and the subsequent reshuffling of Course 1 and 2 students, they were no longer able to spend the entire school day together anymore. Tatsuya and Mizuki had been transferred into Magitech and Mikihiko was promoted to Course 1-B when several Course 1 students like Tomitsuka Hagane opted to go into Magitech. Of course, Mikihiko's practical abilities were noted to be that of a Course 1 student even before his placement, and ever since the Newcomer's round of Monolith Code, his casting speed and zone interference had grown almost exponentially.

While this was all good and well for the trio that managed to place out of Course 2, this also meant that Leo and Erika were still in class 2-E together. As one would imagine, the first few days of school were a bit awkward given that three out of the five were no longer there to dampen the animated interactions of Erika and Leo. Half a year had more or less helped the duo adjust to class without the rest of the group, but yesterday's encounter had brought all the tension back to the surface like it was the first day of school again.

Today just so happened to be practical skills evaluations. Since the start of year two, every time there was practical skills practice in one of the labs, Leo and Erika would partner up because the other was the only one that each would feel comfortable enough around. Usually, the one not using the school's standard issue CAD for practice would stand, silently (most of the time) observing. However, memories of the run-in still seemed to be fresh in Erika's mind.

"Your activation time is still over the 800 millisecond cutoff," Erika voiced.

"You think I can't see that? I'm still working on it," Leo retorted.

He turned back to the machine and placed both his palms on the device just like Tatsuya suggested over a year ago when they were using these same testers over a year ago. _Concentrate._

"Well maybe you'll be faster if you focus," Erika fired back testily.

"Well who's the one distracting who now?" Leo replied just as irritated. _Damn. Still too slow._

"See? You're not focusing! You were able to make the cut last week when we were practicing!"

"That's because I didn't have some annoying high school girl yelling in my face at the time!"

By now the entire Class 2-E had turned to look at the two arguing. Leo felt the stares and turned back to the machine. Erika had never been so glad that they did not have instructors to watch the scene unfold.

_Stop letting him get inside your head._ Erika mentally chastised herself for losing her temper over such a trivial matter. Mizuki wasn't there to calm her down anymore.

"Sorry about that. It wasn't my place to point that out," Erika finally conceded.

Leo finally managed to get his time below to about 680 milliseconds. Surprising given that the previous tries had all been in the mid 1000s.

"Apology accepted. And I would like to apologize myself," Leo said after submitting his time for evaluation and turning to face her. He paused for a moment.

"What now? You're looking at me funny," Erika asked.

"It's just that it's unusual for you to be apologizing. You're not acting like yourself again."

"I can be a decent ojou-sama when I feel like it ok? And what do you mean by again?"

"Hmph. I'm not so sure about the ojou-sama part," Leo teased, "and don't worry about the last part. It's your turn for testing."

"If you would, _ojou-sama_," Leo says after giving a flowery and over exaggerated bow.

Erika's only response was to roll her eyes as she stepped towards the machine.

* * *

"Hah, that evaluation really took a lot out of me."

The class period had finally ended and Erika was walking with Mizuki on the way to the cafeteria for lunch with the rest of their classmates. It had taken Erika two more tries than Leo to meet the time limit; even though Leo hadn't said anything about it, Erika could tell he was trying very hard to hold something in that mad the potential for a slap.

"Erika-chan, are you ok? You seem a little off today."

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing," Erika said to deflect the question.

They spent the rest of the walk to the lunchroom silent. It was customary for Erika and Leo to meet up with Mizuki and Tatsuya and all walk together to lunch, picking up Mikihiko, Miyuki, Honoka and Shizuku along the way, but Leo had run off before she could make it out the door, something about discussing something with Tatsuya.

_That big hairy lummox. _

Now that evaluations were over, it seemed like all her repressed thinking was making a comeback.

It seemed like Erika and Mizuki were the last ones to reach the table. It would appear that Leo and Tatsuya making their way to the lunchroom had attracted the rest of the group. Mikihiko and the two other guys seemed to be pretty buddy-buddy after all they'd been through since Monolith Code, and Honoka and Miyuki would never pass up a chance to be with Tatsuya; Shizuku was probably dragged along for the ride.

The only open seats left were next to Leo and Mikihiko. Mizuki defaulted to sitting next to Mikihiko.

_So comfortable around each other. _There were several things she could say that immediately popped into her head, but all of them lost their luster when she realized that that would mean sitting next to Leo.

_More of Leo today. Why can't I stop thinking about him!?_

Erika resigned herself to that thought and set her lunch down and sat down in the chair. She could tell this was going to be a long lunch with the discussion topic Tatsuya brought up.

"So I heard that you two were quite the scene during evaluations," Tatsuya said casually.

"Eh!? What! It was nothing!" Erika furiously denied as she sat next to Leo.

She quickly glanced over to Leo only to see him looking back at her out of the corner of his eye. Both gave a start and turned to stare at their trays, blushing.

"This situation reminds me of that day last year when both of you were skipping school." As if the first statement wasn't bad enough, Tatsuya kept pouring oil on the flames. The mirth in his eyes was a heavy contrast to the rest of his face which remained expressionless.

"Oh yea, weren't you two doing some training thing together?" Miyuki seemed to catch her brother's drift and added her own two cents.

"I wonder what kind of training it was," Honoka said, joining in the teasing.

Other than the subjects of the innuendos, Mizuki and Mikihiko seemed to be blushing even more furiously upon their recollection of that suggestive conversation last year.

Attempting to divert the conversation away from this uncomfortable topic (at least for Erika and Leo), Leo turns back to Tatsuya.

"So you've already worked out an activation and magic sequence that works?"

Tatsuya switches into his usual stoic self.

"Indeed. It was quite simplistic actually. I put the sequences into a CAD for you to test whenever convenient. Using some connections, I managed to acquire the as-of-yet unnamed latest model in FLT's silver series. If you're available after school, we can do some tests and fine-tuning."

"Eh? What's this magic sequence?" Erika can't help but interrupt.

"It's something onii-sama is working on for Saijou-kun," Miyuki attempts to answer on behalf of her brother, "Something to do with fortification of air, if I heard correctly."

"Well, fundamentally, it's fortifying a set space of air molecules to create anything the user needs, a weapon or a tool," Tatsuya answers. "Anything to add Leo?"

"Nope, that one sentence got everything."

"Is it in the magic index, or is Tatsuya-san going to have to put Leo-san's name in the University Index as the developer?" Shizuku asked, probably remembering "Active Air Mine".

"I'm not sure what is and what is not in the index, but his name will be going in the index if it is a new type of magic. It was his idea after all, I'm just helping a bit on the technical end of it. As usual, I won't be able to use it just looking at the activation sequence itself, not to mention the Magic Sequence," Tatsuya conceded.

"It doesn't seem fair that Tatsuya-san doesn't get any recognition for any of his work," Honoka complained.

"I don't want any recognition," Tatsuya responded with a tight smile, "It's enough that I can study with you guys and do what I enjoy."

* * *

It was well after the school day had ended, and Erika was making her way towards the front gate of the school. The group had wanted to meet up after school at one of their favorite cafes, but it seemed like everyone had something to do. Miyuki, Honoka and Minami (the Shiba's cousin) had Student Council duties, Shizuku had paperwork to file for the Disciplinary Committee while Mikihiko was getting used to his new position as Chairman of said committee, and Leo and Tatsuya were working on the new magic they were discussing at lunch, leaving Erika with nothing better to do but head back to the Chiba residence.

Despite his absence, thoughts of Leo were still buzzing in the back of her head, however her thoughts were rudely interrupted by the presence of another individual.

"What's a Weed like you still doing here?"

_Damn._

Erika turned around to face her inquisitor. "I could ask the same of you Morisaki Shun."

"A mere Weed like you has no reason to hang around school. After all you're only a reserve," Morisaki sneered.

"I see you're still bitter about the Nine School's Competition," Erika taunted back, "after all, Tatsuya, Mikihiko and Leo all proved that Course 2 students can perform just as well as you _blooms_."

"Still acting high and mighty I see," Morisaki shot back, "and don't think I've forgotten about you, _Chiba bastard_."

Erika involuntarily stiffened. Family has always been a forbidden topic for her; her one weakness. She never talked about her father or siblings because of the circumstances surrounding her birth. How had he been able to find out?

"After that episode on the first day of school, I made it a point to see exactly who you were. As I am a part of the one hundred families, I get certain privileges you could say. Can you say the same, _Chiba_?"

Erika could only stand there and grit her teeth. In actuality, she shouldn't be considered a part of the one hundred families.

"Oh yes, I know about your father and your mother. I know about your father's affair with your mother while his wife lay ill. I know that you couldn't even use the name Chiba until your mother died and you entered First High School as a Weed. And rightfully so. A true member of the Hundred Families would never be a Course 2 student."

Every word brought memories to the surface that she had repressed over years; it felt like an iron spike was being driven through her chest. She could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes. All of it was true; even now she wasn't considered a Chiba by the rest of the clan. Currently she was still living in a building not connected to the main Chiba household, further proving Morisaki right. She would never admit to anyone, but she often felt like she didn't belong, that she was a mistake. Some nights she would stay awake, asking herself was it worth living as the Chiba family's bastard child.

"Hey!" Leo came barreling out of nowhere. "What do you think you're doing?" Leo came to a halt a few meters from Morisaki, glaring him down.

That was the final straw for Erika; the thought that Leo had heard the entire conversation forced Erika to flee the scene, tears streaming from her eyes. This wasn't something she was proud of; what would he think of her now? Never before had she lost composure in front of other people. When she got home, she threw herself on her bed. By the time she managed to fall into a fitful sleep, her pillow was stained with her tears.

* * *

Leo had just finished fine tuning some of the magic sequences on the CAD with Tatsuya and was heading towards the front of the school. Tatsuya had already gone to pick up Miyuki from the Student Council Office, so seeing no reason to stay any longer, he decided to head home. He was walking towards the front entrance when he heard an encounter going on between two people.

"Oh yes, I know about your father and your mother. I know about your father's affair with your mother while his wife lay ill. I know that you couldn't even use the name Chiba until your mother died and you entered First High School as a Weed. And rightfully so. A true member of the Hundred Families would never be a Course 2 student."

_Chiba. _He knew only one person with that name and that voice that was speaking sounded annoyingly familiar.

"Hey!" Leo broke into a run and stalked up to Morisaki. "What do you think you're doing?" He heard a shuffle and turned around to see Erika sprinting out of the school gates.

"What did you say to her!?" Leo could feel his anger rising.

"The truth," smirked Morisaki. "It's not my problem that that bastard girl can't come to terms with her _Weed _status."

"YOU!"

Leo began crossing the distance between himself and Morisaki.

"So you want to settle what happened on day one? Let's do this then."

Morisaki removed his pistol-shaped CAD and began his activation sequence. Leo's CAD was in his bag, so he decided to rush him; all in all, this scene was an almost exact reenactment of the first day of school.

"STOP!"

A cannonball of psions blasted Morisaki's magic sequence to bits and Leo felt himself thrown on the ground. There was only one person at First High that could do both at the same time.

"Can I trust you not to attack Morisaki-san, Leo?"

"GET OFF OF ME TATSUYA. I'M GOING TO PUNCH THAT PIECE OF SHIT IN THE FACE SO HARD IT'LL COME OUT OF HIS ASS."

"What happened?" Mikihiko demanded, walking up to the scene followed by Miyuki, Minami, Honoka and Shizuku.

"THIS BASTARD NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT HIS PLACE."

"That's an ironic statement, considering we were just talking about Erika." Morisaki couldn't help but slip that last statement in.

"GAHH!" Leo moved so violently that Tatsuya actually had to reorient himself to ensure that Leo couldn't get up to murder Morisaki.

"I'm sorry Leo, but I have no choice," Mikihiko said apologetically, "but both of you will have to come to the Disciplinary Committee room so we can work this out. I'm particularly interested in this conversation you had with Erika, Morisaki-san." Mikihiko's eyes glinted darkly at that last statement.

* * *

Tatsuya, Minami, Honoka and Shizuku were waiting outside the Disciplinary Committee's room; Mikihiko and Miyuki were inside with Leo and Morisaki by virtue of their rank, Miyuki being president of Student Council and Mikihiko the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.

After about 20 minutes Morisaki stalked out of the room and promptly left; Leo stormed out shortly after.

"What's the verdict?" Shizuku asked.

"They're going to fight it out. Day after tomorrow," Mikihiko sighed.

Tatsuya took the permission slip from Miyuki's hands and glanced over it. His eyebrows raised slightly and he turned to look at Leo, whose back was to the group.

"Any spell can be used up to a B rank lethal spell and no restriction on physical attacks. Victory will be decided when the other party forfeits and a third party will only intervene when one side is deemed critically injured. Leo, are you sure about these restrictions? It seems the cards are stacked against-"

"I picked the restrictions. That smug faced bastard thought that I should pick because I'm a Course 2 student." Leo turned around to face the group, features dark. "I'll make sure he knows his place by the end of this bout."

* * *

Erika didn't show up to school the next day. Or the day after that. Between the confrontation and the fight, Leo spent most of his waking hours either in the practice rooms with Tatsuya or at the Shiba residence, fine tuning some spells. He even slept at the Shiba house in the spare bedroom. Throughout the days, his green eyes blazed darkly. Between him and Erika, their group of friends were quite concerned for their well being.

* * *

Practice Room #7 saw Leo and Morisaki facing each other along with a crowd of spectators. Apparently word got around that one of the schools top ranked second years was facing off against a Course 2 student; with this batch of second years, who knew what would happen in a fight like this?

Morisaki was garbed in a black padded uniform, similar to the gear used in Monolith Code, but missing the helmet. He wore his pistol-shaped CAD proudly at his hip and had a bracelet-shaped generalized CAD on his left forearm, probably as back-up.

Leo also seemed to go with the Monolith Code theme. He wore long black pants, but his upper body was obscured by a familiar piece of cloth, a robe like the one he used during the Nine School Competition.

* * *

_What does he have underneath that robe…_

Morisaki couldn't help but feel a little nervous at Leo's appearance. He was almost certain he would go with his trademark gauntlet, but this new development was unexpected.

_Tch. No matter. I'll still crush him._

Mikihiko stepped up to the line between the two combatants.

"You know the rules. Any spell up to Rank B lethal, any physical attacks. Are you ready?"

Leo and Morisaki glared each other down, their grunts as confirmation.

"In that case...fight!"

* * *

Morisaki had already aimed his magic using the Morisaki family secret, "Drawless". Psions began flowing as he prepared to activate "Sledgehammer", a rank B move-type magic that concentrated all the forces at one point to smash the opponent back; as he felt the magic sequence deploy, he mentally began to prepare for another invocation of "Sledgehammer" to drive Leo into the ground.

In that moment, time seemed to slow and Leo whipped his robe off, yelling his trademark phrase.

"PANZEEEER!"

With that yell, magic deployed…and Practice Room #7 exploded in fire.

* * *

**O boi, the terror.**

**This chapter was kinda difficult to write. It was hard to mimic the pseudo-antagonistic relationship between Erika and Leo, display their thoughts and not subtract from the personalities from any of the characters, especially Erika. I wanted to make her seem slightly vulnerable, yet at the same time maintain her image as a strong-willed and independent person; I know lots of people get offended when their watching anime or something and they see a female character that starts out strong and independent become indecisive and dependent on a male character after something happens. I sear to you, I tried. Please don't kill me. If you have any ideas of how to do this better, I'd appreciate it if you left a review or a message for me. **

**Other than that, I'm not sure if Leo would actually react like that, but I could see it happen. I enjoyed writing angry Leo more than I should have I think.**

**And that ending was kinda cliche; sorry but not sorry.**

**Anyhoo, review, follow, favorite. The next chapter might take a while to get up.**

**Thanks for reading, and see yall in the next chapter!**


	3. Fight

"Leo, before I agree to help you with this, I need you to explain something to me."

Leo and Tatsuya were currently inside First High's Practice Room #2; Leo was adjusting the CAD on his right forearm and Tatsuya was wrapping his fists in preparation for the hand-to-hand combat practice with Leo.

"Why did you set those limits on the fight? In fact, why did you even choose to fight at all?" Tatsuya finally finished his left hand and was working on his right. "I need to know why you're fighting."

Leo responded while adjusting the CAD settings. "I have two reasons. The first is that that arrogant prick needs to realize that just because he's a Course 1 student, he's not any better than any of the other second years. He's seen all of us in action, during Monolith Code and Yokohama, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in," Leo explained as he finished adjusting the guard-shaped CAD that covered most of his right forearm. "Since it's not getting through, it needs to be beaten into his thick skull."

Content with the positioning of the CAD, Leo nodded in satisfaction. "Which is why I need you to help me with this fight. I've talked with you about the magic sequences I'm planning on using, and while some of it may be...excessive and inconvenient, I think it's the only way a person like him will finally be able to understand."

"Excessive may be an understatement. Do you realize that the amount of superfluous sequences will slow you down, and, not to mention, might even burn your magic calculation area out?" While usually emotionless, Leo could tell that Tatsuya's voice was laced with concern.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. And besides, with you as my technician, the chances of that happening will be pretty limited." Leo walked over to Tatsuya and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know as well as I do, this might be integral to changing the relationship between the Course 1 and 2 students. Do this for me. For a friend."

"...Fine. However, I will be monitoring you closely through the fight though, understand? If I say forfeit, you forfeit."

Leo removed his hand and Tatsuya walked over to the side of the room and picked up a terminal. "The magic sequences you've requested are on those CADs. Let's test each magic sequence individually, then we can try your...interesting plan."

Leo walked over to the middle of the room, and turned around to face Tatsuya, whose eyes were reflecting the terminal monitoring Leo's physical condition as well as the CADs.

"...Leo."

"Hmm?"

"You said you had two reasons for wanting this duel with Morisaki. You only told me one; what's the other?"

Leo's eyes narrowed and took on a dark glint.

"Erika's honor."

* * *

Erika carefully made her way to Practice Room #7; it appeared that she was just in time for the duel. She was surprised at the amount of students and faculty that showed up. Word got around fast, and it appeared that this duel would be for an open audience. She opted to stay in the back near the wall to avoid drawing attention to herself.

For the past few days Erika didn't show her face at school. After the incident with Morisaki, she couldn't bear to think of the looks her friends might have given her. But her absence at school must have made her friends quite concerned. She received a few calls from Mizuki on behalf of the entire group; she never answered, but Mizuki always left a message encouraging her; Mizuki always seemed to know how to cheer someone up. That was how she managed to find out about the duel taking place that day, about Leo challenging Morisaki for her sake.

_That idiot. When this is over I'm going to hit him so hard…_

Those were Erika's first thoughts, but deep down, she couldn't help but feel grateful and loved that her friends, especially Leo, would go to such lengths.

_That big dummy better not lose._

She also couldn't help feeling slightly concerned for Leo. Morisaki was one of the top ten scorers among their cohort, and Leo's practical skills were mediocre at best (at least among the students at First High, the fact that they even got in was a testament to their skills), but looking at Leo right now, the dark blaze in his eyes dissipated all fears she had. He wouldn't lose. Not this fight.

Her eyes scanned to room and was slightly surprised to see green air spirits floating around the room as well as some of Mikihiko's paper covered runes arranged in a rectangle around the outer rim of the room. _I guess that barrier is to prevent magic and bodies from flying into the audience. Though, is he expecting this fight to be that bad?..._

Her vision landed on Leo, standing proudly facing Morisaki, wearing that ridiculous looking robe. She remembered how the first time she saw him in it she laughed so hard she almost started crying. But that was before she saw what he could do with it. What was he planning on doing with it this time? There's no way he could use it as a shield this time.

"You know the rules. Any spell up to Rank B lethal, any physical attacks. Are you ready?"

Erika tensed slightly as she saw Mikihiko prepare to initiate the battle.

"In that case...fight!"

Morisaki whipped his pistol-shaped CAD out of the hoster and leveled it at Leo's midsection; it would appear he was aiming to smash him right in the abdomen to send him flying.

Leo was just as fast. He ripped the robe off and threw it away, fluttering in the air.

Erika's eyes widened as she saw the true purpose of the robe; it wasn't a weapon, it was to conceal what he had hidden underneath the robe.

On Leo's arms, he had not one, or two, but _three _CADs, two on both his forearms and one on his left upper arm.

_No way. He's not planning on using all three at the same time is he!?_

"PANZEEER!"

Magic sequences appeared all over his body; his torso, arms and legs were covered in magic sequences. His entire body was momentarily surrounded in a vortex of fire and Erika along with everyone else had to cover their eyes to shield them from the sudden burst of light.

When she uncovered her eyes, she looked up just in time to see the figure of Leo encased in an armor of fire slash Morisaki's "Sledgehammer" spell into shards of psions with a flaming greatsword that somehow appeared in his right hand. Going with the fire theme, his left forearm held a burning tower shield almost as tall as Leo himself.

_What...how...is he able to do that!?_

* * *

Morisaki was stunned.

_What…_

He wasn't sure which part of what just happened he was more shocked at. The immediate realization was that Leo wasn't lying on the ground with the wind knocked out of him. Then he considered that Leo somehow managed to nullify "Sledgehammer", which shouldn't have been possible given Leo's abilities. Finally was the fact that Leo was _multicasting_ using not two but _three_ CADs.

_Impossible! There's no way!…_

* * *

Leo let out a sigh of relief.

_It worked._

Honestly, Leo wasn't sure whether he would be able to pull that stunt off.

Leo was currently standing in front of a stunned audience, cloaked in fire as if it were a sort of armor, a greatsword in his right hand and a tower shield in his left. While it appeared to be shifting around due to the flames, the design of the armor was based of that of a lightly armored samurai. The eastern themed armor was at odds with his choice of weaponry. The tower shield was broad on top and tapered to an end, but it was the sword that drew the most attention. The greatsword was based of a German two-handed broadsword, the "Zweihander"; not including the hilt of the sword, the blade was about one and a half meters in length. The only reason he could wield it one-handed because it didn't actually weigh that much given it was made out of air molecules.

The armor, shield and sword were all created out of Leo's convergence-type fortifying magic. He had used the idea during his sparring with Tatsuya to come up with a complete set of weaponry for this fight. Each piece was created by anchoring the air molecules relative to each other in the shaped he needed using his fortifying magic. This was hard enough as it is, because air molecules were constantly in motion, but in order to create the fire effect, he had to multicast magic vibration-type magic on the outer layer of air molecules in order to get the oxygen to combust. Additionally, he had to apply some Data Fortification and Zone Interference onto the entirety of the armor so that he could counter and destroy Morisaki's own magic. To top it off, he had to perfectly sync his three CADs, which were each acting on different parts of his body.

Morisaki launched several more invocations of different spells, move-type, speed-type, but Leo easily countered with his own magic. Leo used the tower shield to block the incoming magic; what the shield didn't intercept shattered upon impact with the armor. He made a show of using all of the armor and weapons to shred Morisaki's magic, all the while advancing on his adversary's position.

The only reason he went through all that extra training with Tatsuya was to prove to Morisaki that "Weeds" were just as capable and in some cases, even more so. With that thought, Leo cancelled his current magic sequences, extinguishing his flaming weaponry and immediately fortifying two gauntlets out of air onto his forearms and applied Data Fortification and Zone Interference. Stage two of this fight was to crush Morisaki's face into the ground.

* * *

"How's his condition?" Mikihiko asked Tatsuya, eyes riveted on the scene in front of him.

Tatsuya made an act of looking at the terminal in front of him, but in actuality he was using "Elemental Sight" to read Leo's information, his current physical condition as well as the state of his magic calculation area and psion count.

"Those three invocations of 'Feuer Rüstung' is showing a slight strain on his magic calculation area, but as long as he doesn't use it continuously he should be fine. It appears he's using a variation of it right now, 'Panzerhandschuch', the air gauntlets. He should be able to last about 30 minutes with his current activity levels."

"...Did Leo come up with those names?..."

"Yes. I told him it sounded ridiculous, but he wanted to keep with his German theme. I couldn't dissuade him, unfortunately."

Mikihiko chuckled. "Well, as long as he wins this fight, he'll prove that these spells aren't as useless as they sound."

* * *

Morisaki gritted his teeth. Using the pistol-shaped CAD, he launched three consecutive invocations of "Sledgehammer" in an attempt to overwhelm Leo with the frequency of attacks. Leo responded with three jabs, shattering the magic.

_As long as he has those gauntlets, he'll be able to intercept any long range magic I throw at him. At least he doesn't have that monster of armor on anymore; it probably was too much for him to maintain. Maybe I need to try a different approach._

Morisaki selected a different magic sequence in his pistol-shaped CAD.

_This should keep him occupied for a while._

Move, converge and release-type spell, "Dry Blizzard" activated and fired a stream of dry ice pellets at Leo. During this period, Morisaki prepared weight-type magic "Titan's Weight" in order to give Leo the sense of weighing five times heavier and impeding his movements.

As expected, Leo blocked the dry ice bullets with his double gauntlets but it was evident that he was unprepared for Morisaki's indirect attack on his ability to act. Leo's movements slowed noticeably and Morisaki took advantage of Leo's momentary lapse in defenses.

_Now!_

Morisaki applied a simple self-acceleration spell and charged Leo. His family specialized in bodyguards and hand-to-hand combat, and Morisaki was no exception. With his training, Morisaki placed a well aimed uppercut into Leo's chin.

He gave a satisfactory smirk as Leo went crashing into Mikihiko's protective barrier.

* * *

_Shit._

Leo felt the air go out of him. Placing a hand on the ground, he slowly tried to get up, still feeling the effects of Morisaki's weight-type magic making any movement slow and agonizing. He managed to get up into a crouching position when he felt a force slam into his left shoulder, smashing his body into the ground.

"GARH!"

_He doesn't waste his advantage does he? As long as "Titan's Weight" is still in effect, the most I can do is shoulder his blows. _

Pushing himself up on all fours, he felt another blow to his abdomen, flinging him sideways onto his back.

* * *

"It's not looking good," muttered Mikihiko. "He's taking a lot of hits now that Morisaki can use 'Sledgehammer' as much as he likes."

"Leo will be fine," Tatsuya assured, "He's improved his durability even more during those training sessions with me. He has some time yet."

* * *

Erika couldn't stand to see Leo get flung around like a rag doll. She could feel each blow the Morisaki landed on Leo like it was on her own body. But somehow Leo managed to get up after each one.

_Come on you useless hunk of muscle! You can do it! _

"GET UP LEO!"

* * *

The last time Leo had gotten in a fight was in the third year of middle school; he couldn't remember the details or what they were even fighting about, but he remembered that he had won that brawl. He remembered the exhilarating rush of adrenaline as he exchanged blows with his adversary. That was the first time he discovered his hardy physical durability in first hand.

He also remembered coming home, covered in bruises, eye swollen shut; he remembered how his mom first freaked out, hugging him, tears streaming down her face. He also remembered his father, a grim look on his face. He would never forget the conversation with his parents that followed.

"Leo...there's something we need to talk about…"

He recalled hearing about his heritage, a descendant of Germany's Burg Folge series, about how he was different from others. He also heard about the dangers of losing himself in rage.

"Leo, at a certain point in your anger, you will begin to lose control. This is one of the faults of the Fortress series of magicians. You must have careful control of your emotions. If not, there could be dire circumstances, not only for you but for others as well."

* * *

After twenty or so blows from "Sledgehammer", Leo could feel his consciousness begin to fade in and out. He lost count of the number of times he forced himself on his knees only to be blasted across the room again.

Eventually he reached a point where he didn't bother to get up. Morisaki swaggered up to Leo's prostate body, stooping down to Leo's face.

"Surrender yet?"

"...Never…"

"In that case," Morisaki said standing back up, "you have no objections to this, I trust."

He leveled the pistol-shaped CAD at Leo's head. Leo knew the next blow would probably hospitalize him. Morisaki cancelled "Titan's Weight", trusting Leo would be too beat up to fight back. Leo could tell "Sledgehammer" was about to be activated.

"GET UP LEO!"

_That voice!_

Leo's eyes snapped open and simultaneously activated both air gauntlets to intercept Morisaki's intended final blow. Rising quickly, he smashed his fist into the pistol-shaped CAD, sending it skittering across the floor.

Thrown off guard, Morisaki hastily activated a self-acceleration magic to increase the distance between himself and Leo. Snarling, Morisaki looked back up at Leo; however the sight that greeted him caused him to stumble a few steps back.

Instead of its usual forest-green shade, Leo eyes flared blood red.

"No more petty magic tricks, Morisaki." Leo's voice, though soft, carried the intent enough to strike a sense of agitation into Morisaki's heart. "This is a fight to be settled with fists."

* * *

"Tatsuya, what's going on?" Mikihiko's voice carried a slight tinge of worry.

"The balance of hormones in his body has caused some changes in his physiology. He's losing control of some mental faculties, but his physical condition is…" Eyes focused on Leo, Tatsuya continued to mutter to himself, "I'm not sure what's going on myself. Is this one of the genetic modifications that his family underwent?...At any rate, he won't last long in this condition."

* * *

Leo immediately recognized the sensation of heightened physical abilities and rush of energy from that last fight those few years ago. With roar, he charged Morisaki head on.

What ensued was an exchange of blows that was almost too fast for the eye to follow. Leo aimed his first strike straight for Morisaki's head; Morisaki blocked with his left forearm and returned with an attempt to knee Leo in the gut, which was defended by Leo's other hand. Leo abandoned thought as instinct took over.

The audience could only watch in a dazed silence was the two combatants fought. It was immediately apparent that Morisaki had the greater finesse of the two, carefully blocking and striking, but Leo's barrage drew the most attention. Even though he took hits that would cripple most people for the rest of the fight, he barely seemed to even notice the blows. The raw force of Leo's press seemed to be forcing Morisaki on the defensive. During the exchange, neither side had the time nor the concentration to activate any magic.

* * *

Morisaki was giving up ground. Despite the training he had received, nothing seemed to faze Leo. Palm strikes, jabs, kicks; Leo just took the strike and countered back. A direct strike to Leo's face didn't even manage to force him one step backwards, and Morisaki barely stumbled back in time to avoid an counter elbow strike aimed for his throat.

_I can't stop him!_

* * *

That one misstep was all Leo needed.

While Morisaki tried to regain balance and reposition himself for the next attack, Leo rushed in, delivering a powerful jab to Morisaki's unprotected abdomen, causing any and all of his defenses to fail. Leo proceeded with a merciless onslaught of blows.

_Palm strike, upper chest. Backfist, neck. Knee, abdomen. Block incoming counterfist. Spearhand, gut._

Leo, blinded by bloodlust, rained blow after blow upon Morisaki, easily deflecting any attempt at a defense or counter attack.

_Jab. Kick. Elbowstrike. Hookshot. Uppercut. Block, Punch, Longfist, For Erik. For Erika. FOR ERIKA!_

Leo delivered a final strike to Morisaki's face, sending him flying across the room. Morisaki's back crashed into Mikihiko's barrier and he collapsed face-down to the ground.

* * *

Erika saw Leo stalk over to Morisaki's body, and pick him up by his neck, lifting him clean off the ground. Morisaki's body remained limp in Leo's grasp.

"Are _you_ ready to surrender, Morisaki Shun?"

"..."

"I can't hear you."

"...never…"

"Those were the words I wanted to hear."

Leo raised his fist; Morisaki didn't even try to defend or get out of Leo's hold. She heard frenzied whispering from the side and turned to see Tatsuya and Mikihiko in a heated discussion.

"That next blow might kill Morisaki!"

"But we can't intervene until one side forfeits or is critically injured."

"You said it yourself, Leo's lost control of his reason, he's relying on instinct right now, and that instinct is telling him that Morisaki needs to be killed."

_If Leo's planning on killing Morisaki, then he needs to be stopped!_

* * *

Leo felt his anger burning in his chest, and his vision was tinted red.

He picked up Morisaki by the neck and held him up in the air, legs dangling lifelessly.

Bringing their faces together, he asked Morisaki the same question he had been asked earlier in the fight.

"Are _you_ ready to surrender, Morisaki Shun?"

Morisaki mumbled a response that was unintelligible.

"I can't hear you."

Drawing a ragged breath, Morisaki managed to get one word out."

"...never…"

Leo smiled sinisterly. He had hoped Morisaki would respond that way.

"Those were the words I had wanted to hear."

Drawing his fist back he prepared his final blow.

But before he could loose his fist, he felt a soft hand on his arm. Turning his head slightly, he could see Erika's pleading eyes.

"Don't do this Leo. You've already done enough. You've done enough for me. Forfeit the match."

A mix of hate and anger were swirling through Leo's brain, but Erika's voice and the image of her worried for his sake caused Leo's senses to return as the red fell from his eyes. Erika's face visibly softened as the familiar forest-green shade of Leo's irises returned in place of the blood-red hue it had been just as Leo was about to finish Morisaki off.

Setting Morisaki on the ground, Leo turned around to face Mikihiko.

"Per the rules, I forfeit the match."

With that declaration, Leo collapsed to the ground.

* * *

**Well that was difficult to write. **

**Hi again, and thanks for reading my attempt at a cohesive story.**

**I know the ending of this one is kinda abrupt and maybe not what you were expecting/wanted, but I was trying to set up for the next chapter.**

**If you have any ideas of how you would have ended it/how to improve it I would like to hear from you.**

**If you have any comments, pointers or ideas that will help me make this story better, please review.**

**I think this will be the second to last chapter, I'll try to wrap things up in the next one. **

**Once again thanks for reading and see yall next time!**


	4. Conciliation

_Leo was standing on an overlook above the plain. Below him, a group of soldiers- magicians he assumed-were making their way across the field. He didn't recognize the location, but the dense forest, the snow on the ground, this must be Germany. Looking at the soldiers trekking through the snowbanks, his eyes settled on one in particular. He gave a start. He recognized that man. It couldn't be. "Ojii-san," Leo muttered to himself. It was like looking at a mirror image of his father, albeit a little younger and lacking some Japanese features. Leo had inherited his clear, emerald green eyes. _

_His vision shifted and he found himself walking as a part of the soldiers, but none of them seemed to notice him. He stopped and another soldier actually walked through Leo. "Wha-is this a vision, or a memory?" He ran up to his grandfather and fell into step beside him; Leo studied his elder, noting to himself that ojii-san's distinctive scar across his face was missing. "Then this...must...it can't be...World War III!?"_

_To confirm his conclusion, gunfire exploded out of the forest and several of the soldiers were gunned down. With a grunt, Leo's grandfather activated a primitive looking gauntlet-shaped CAD and activated a magic sequence. Leo recognized a familiar fortification-type magic sequence and a barrier of air appeared shielding most of the battalion. _

_While his grandfather maintained the barrier, the rest of the troops pulled out their own CADs, some bracelet shaped, others with pistol and rifle shaped ones and still others that produced longsword and axe-shaped weapon integrated CADs._

_Leo's grandfather lifted his fist; all around Leo, the soldiers moved into a position to charge the enemy hiding in the forest. Turning his head around to get a better look at the soldiers, he became even more startled. Each and every one of the magicians had blood red eyes. _

"_FOR GERMANY!" _

_With a roar, the soldiers charged as one, smashing into the enemy hiding in the forest. All turned to chaos. _

_Leo's vision shifted again. He found himself in the battle armor of the battalion, gauntlet on his left arm, fighting back-to-back with his grandfather. He downed countless enemy soldiers._

_Then the vision began to change. He enemy soldiers became different. He recognized some of the terrorists from the fight at First High. Then they became Blanche. And then soldiers from the Great Asian Alliance during Yokohama. He crushed Lu Gonghu's windpipe and turned around to counter Morisaki's punch and snapped his neck. Hearing a movement, swiveled around to catch Erika in a chokehold. He couldn't stop himself as he maintained his vicegrip on her throat, Erika thrashing about gasping for him to stop. He collapsed to the ground beside her stiff body, tears streaming down his face. _

"_no...nononononoNONONONO. WHY!" Leo screamed to the falling snow, the sounds of the battle still raging on. _

_Hearing a roar, he saw his grandfather dispatch an enemy by snapping his neck. Whirling around, Leo stumbled back. "No, it can't be." Staring back with crimson eyes, his grandfathers face had morphed into Leo's own. With a roar, He charged, smashing his fist into Leo's head, knocking him into a blessed oblivion._

* * *

"NO!"

Leo gasped awake.

_Just a dream….just a dream._

Sunlight streamed through the shutters of the window. It would appear he was in the hospital. An IV tube ran from his arm and he found that his legs and waist were restrained to the bed. Not like he could even move anyway, as weak as he was at the moment. He gave a start when he realized he wasn't the only one in the room.

A plume of bright red hair was resting on the side of the bed, over a pair of crossed arms. It would appear that Erika had been here for a while, given the backpack lying against the wall. She was wearing a casual white shirt and a pair of shorts, her long hair in her trademark ponytail.

Feeling movement, Erika groggily raised her head; all her tiredness seemed to fade as she saw Leo awake and eyes open.

"You're awake!"

Throwing herself onto Leo, she hugged his neck tightly.

"E-Erika!?"

"You idiot, why did you have to go and do that." Erika was still holding on tight to Leo like she wouldn't let him go. Leo felt a wetness on hospital gown and realized that she was crying.

"E-Erika, I'm fine."

Lifting her head up, Leo could see that the tears had stopped flowing, but her eyes were still red. Out of nowhere she hit his arm.

"Ow! What was that for!"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS! YOU'VE BEEN UNCONSCIOUS FOR ALMOST A WEEK, HAD A RIDICULOUSLY HIGH FEVER AND YOU HEART STOPPED AT LEAST ONCE! THE DOCTORS DIDN'T KNOW IF YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE IT! AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO SAY THAT YOU'RE FINE!"

Erika looked like she was about to yell at him some more, but then she broke down again, burying her face in his gown.

"I don't know what I would have done if you died," Erika said softly. Leo was startled at the last statement, then felt guilty upon remembering his fight with Morisaki and his dream.

_I'm too dangerous for her. I'm a danger to everybody. Who knows what will happen the next time I lose control?_

"Erika, there's somethi-"

"Oh, what am I doing?" Erika cut Leo off, "I need to tell everyone that you're awake so they can come visit."

Before Erika could take off, she felt Leo gently take her hand, halting her. Meeting her confused look, Leo's grim eyes forced her back to Leo's bedside.

* * *

Leo decided that it was probably easiest to give Erika some background on his situation.

"You remember what happened to me yester-I mean, a week ago, right? When I lost control? Well, that wasn't the first time it's happened; I got in a fight in middle school and I nearly killed the other kid just as I almost did with Morisaki. I can't control it. And likely it'll happen again. It's in my genetics; it's a result of the Fortress surgery my ojii-san underwent all those years ago."

"Why are you telling me this?" Erika demanded, "It's not like any of the rest of us haven't had our share of tampering with our genetic material."

"It's different with me...mine is uncontrollable, unstable. It's dangerous for the rest of you…"

"What...what are you saying?"

Leo took a deep breath.

_I have to push her away. It's the only way to keep her safe from me._

"You...you should stay away from me...for your own good."

Leo turned away, too afraid to look into her eyes, to see the hurt. He had already made her cry twice that day, and he didn't want to see her cry a third time. Her face wasn't meant for tears.

"If you stay, I'll end up hurting you...and I don't want that to happen to you...because I love you."

Leo kept looking out the window, anticipating worst; what happened then was entirely unexpected.

_Is she...laughing?_

Turning his head, he could see Erika's expression sitting on his bedside. Yes, she was laughing, but she was also crying as well.

"You really know how to drive a girl crazy don't you?"

"D-Did you not hear anything I just said? If you stay around me, who knows what might happen to you!"

"...baka…"

"What?"

"I SAID BAKA! OF ALL THE MEN IN THE WORLD, I FALL IN LOVE WITH THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THEM ALL! FIRST YOU TELL ME YOU LOVE ME, THEN YOU TELL ME I SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM YOU! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW INFURIATING YOU ARE SAIJOU LEONHART?"

Taken aback by her outburst, Leo could only shift backwards, trying to put as much distance between them; Erika looked like she was still deciding what to do with Leo, to hit him or yell at him.

In the end she did neither of the two. The fire in her eyes died down and she planted a gentle kiss on the lips of a still stunned Leo. Breaking away, she turned Leo's face so that the only place he could look was into her eyes.

"I love you too, Leo. And I know you would never hurt me or any of our friends. I looked into your eyes the other day, and I know you could never do that. So that's why I don't have to stay away from you."

Leo stared into her eyes for a few seconds. Then he gave a resigned sigh.

"I had a feeling this would happen. Nobody can tell you what to do unless you want to do it, can they, Erika? That pride of yours always gets in the way."

"Hey! That's not-"

Erika squawked as Leo pulled her in for another kiss.

"Hmph. I guess that means I have the permanent duty of looking after you, since you probably don't have the ability to look after yourself."

"I guess that also means I get to look forward to how you take care of me, eh?"

Blushing, Erika got off the bed and grabbed her terminal. Walking out the door, she turned back. "You better not do anything stupid while I'm gone, Saijou Leonhart"

"Come on, what can I do? I'm strapped to a bed."

"You're incorrigible, you know that?" Erika huffed, turning towards the door. Leo couldn't see, but he could tell there was a smile on her face.

* * *

"Leo, are you sure you should be back so soon?"

Mikihiko threw a concerned look towards his friend. "The doctor said you'd be fine, but still, you had a lot of internal damage."

"Oh, I'll be fine. Besides, I've had my fill of lying around in hospital beds."

After four days awake in the hospital, Leo had enough of it. Despite the doctor saying he shouldn't be discharged for another two weeks, Leo had made up his mind. Erika, however, had been another story.

"Really, Erika," Leo sighed, "when you said you were looking after me, I didn't think that meant you following me around everywhere I went."

"Idiot. How else am I supposed to keep an eye on you?"

Since he had been discharged, Erika had accompanied Leo almost everywhere he went. The distance between the two was also nonexistent, despite Leo's use of crutches, facts that their circle of friends did not fail to notice.

"Hey Erika, shouldn't you give Leo some space?"

Mikihiko wasn't attempting to tease Erika, but rather pointing out that her proximity slightly hindered Leo's use of the crutches.

"Is there something wrong? I see nothing wrong here."

Erika shot an accusing glare towards her childhood friend, causing him to shrink back.

"N-No, nothing's wrong! Everything's fine!"

This little exchange caused her friends to smile in amusement and prompted Shizuku to speak.

"For the past few days you've pretty much been with Leo the entire time. Are you two a couple?"

Only Shizuku could manage to say that as bluntly as she did in her expressionless, monotone voice. Erika turned a bright red at the question while the rest of the group broke out laughing.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

Leo had turned an interesting shade pink as well and attempted to steer the conversation away from him and Erika.

"We're getting a lot of stares and whispers. Anything I should know?"

"Word has been going around the school since your fight," Tatsuya answered, "The people who watched the duel have been talking, and now most of the student body have an idea of what happened. While the official verdict of the fight is a win for Morisaki, everyone knows that the only reason he won was because you let him."

"There's also been talks about completely getting rid of the Course 2 classification. Apparently our class has been...influential...in demonstrating that Course 2 students are just as competent, albeit, maybe in different areas."

"On a side note," Mikihiko chimed in, "some of the first years have started calling you First High's 'Flaming Lion'".

"What! Surely they could have come up with a better moniker than that!"

"Says the one who thought naming a spell 'Panzerhandschuch' was a good idea." Erika said rolling her eyes.

"It's not that bad! I think…"

The group continued to chat and laugh in their discussion on their way to the first class of the day but just as he was about to speak, Leo's train of thought dissipated with the appearance of a familiar face in front of the group. Erika visibly stiffened.

"Morisaki...is there something we can do for you?"

Tatsuya's unwavering voice was the first to break the heavy silence hanging in the air. Shooting an annoyed look towards Tatsuya, Morisaki returned his gaze to Erika and Leo.

"Can I have a moment with you two? Somewhere less...open?"

Morisaki was clearly uncomfortable and his appearance had drawn the attention of even more students walking through the hallway.

Leo turned to look at Erika, and she gave him a resolute nod.

"Fine."

* * *

"What do you want Morisaki?" asked Erika.

The three of them had walked out to one of First High's courtyards, Erika and Leo on one side facing Morisaki on the other.

Morisaki shot a look towards her that contained anger and irritation, but mostly unease. Erika felt Leo tense up and she knew his eyes would be smoldering. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Seeing her look, Leo relaxed and backed off.

"I want to...apologize for the way I've acted towards the two of you, as well as the rest of the We-Course 2 students. My actions were unbecoming of a member of the magic community, and even more so of the Hundred Families."

Morisaki visibly gritted his teeth; he seemed to struggle to get the words out.

"Chiba-san, Saijou-san, you are true magicians worthy of respect."

Morisaki made a stiff bow.

Leo and Erika exchanged glances. Turning back to him, Leo spoke up.

"We accept your apology Morisaki-san."

"Thank you."

Morisaki rose and turned to make his exit. He stopped abruptly and turned back to address Leo.

"Saijou-san, I also resigned from my position on the Public Morals Committee. When they asked for a replacement recommendation, I gave them your name. If you're interested, I think you would be more than capable."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not interested in taking your place. Besides, I'm sure there are quite a few competent people out there."

Turning back, Morisaki made his way into the building, leaving Leo and Erika standing in the courtyard.

"I guess we should be making our way to class too."

The two of them made their way through the now mostly empty hallways of First High.

"I never got to thank you for what you did, even if it was bullheaded and stupid," Erika suddenly spoke, shattering the silence. "Thanks for standing up for me."

"For you, I'd do all the bullheaded and stupid things in the world." Leo flashed a broad grin.

For a time, silence permeated the air again. Then Leo decided to break the ice.

"So...how long have you liked me for?"

"BAKA!"

Erika began hitting him on the arm and the two started bickering on the way to class.

Even if the two were holding hands walking down the hallway, it seemed like some things would never change.

* * *

**Welp, managed to get through my first fic. **

**Thanks to those of yall that read this through till the end, still getting a feel for story writing.**

**This last chapter was especially awk, given that I have no experience in the love division. Sighs.**

**Anyway, as always, constructive criticism is welcome. **

**Thanks again, and maybe we'll see each other again in another fic!**


End file.
